Handling Process Instance Migration In Business Process Management

Abstract

Process instance migration from a former process model to a new process model. A former process model and a new process model and their data models are analyzed to extract a process delta object model relating to changes in the new process model on which to define migration rules. One or more existing process instances are analyzed, and process instances whose current state has passed the changes in the new process model are retained. Candidate activities of the retained process instances, a set of conditions for the candidate activities, and a set of actions to be taken if a condition is met are generated. The generated set of conditions and set of actions may be presented to a user enabling the user to combine conditions and actions to produce a process instance migration program in the form of a set of rules.

1 . A computer implemented method for process instance migration from a former process model to a new process model, comprising:
 analyzing, by a computer, a former process model and a new process model and their data models and extracting a process delta object model relating to changes in the new process model on which to define migration rules;   analyzing, by the computer, one or more existing process instances and retaining process instances whose current state has passed the changes in the new process model;   generating, by the computer, candidate activities of the retained process instances;   generating, by the computer, a set of conditions for the candidate activities; and   generating, by the computer, a set of actions to be taken if a condition is met.   
     
     
         2 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein extracting the process delta object model comprises combining a data delta model corresponding to the combination of data that the initial and latter process data models include and how they differ, and an activity delta model corresponding to the combination of activities that the initial and latter activity models include and how they differ. 
     
     
         3 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein generating candidate activities includes:
 reading the data state and activity state of a process instance;   comparing the data state and activity state with the process delta object model; and   selecting a candidate activity when the data state and activity state interest the process delta object model.   
     
     
         4 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein generating a set of conditions for the candidate activities includes:
 leveraging the process delta object model for all candidate activities to synthesize a set of conditions that describe the states of the specific instances.   
     
     
         5 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein generating a set of actions for the candidate activities includes:
 leveraging the process delta object model for all candidate activities to synthesize a set of actions to be taken.   
     
     
         6 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 presenting the generated set of conditions and set of actions to a user enabling the user to combine conditions and actions to produce a process instance migration program in the form of a set of rules.   
     
     
         7 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein analyzing one or more existing process instances includes retaining process instances whose wavefront has passed the changes in the new process model, wherein a wavefront distinguishes between past states, present states, and future states of a process instance. 
     
     
         8 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein generating a set of conditions includes:
 if a candidate activity is after or in a modified activity in the new process model, creating a condition specifying the modified activity.   
     
     
         9 . The method as claimed in  claim 8 , further comprising:
 if there is more than one retained process instance, generating a discriminating condition between each of more than one retained process instances.   
     
     
         10 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein generating a set of actions to be taken if a condition is met includes one or more of the group of: resetting or cancelling the process instance; passing the process instance step through a modified activity; returning the process instance step to a former activity; moving the process instance to different activity; performing a manual entry to resolve the ambiguity. 
     
     
         11 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein analyzing a former process model and a new process model and their data models to extract a process delta object model includes:
 restricting the analysis to modified parts of the new process model.   
     
     
         12 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein analyzing a former process model and a new process model and their data models to extract a process delta object model includes:
 restricting the analysis to activities of the former process model that can be stopped.   
     
     
         13 . The method as claimed in  claim 6 , further comprising:
 refining the set of rules to edit and contextualize the rules based on the specific properties of each instance.   
     
     
         14 . The method as claimed in  claim 6 , further comprising:
 executing a process instance migration to evaluate its result, and iterating to generate additional rules to cover additional instances.   
     
     
         15 . The method as claimed in  claim 6 , further comprising:
 executing the set of rules on an existing instance to validate the actual outcome and to assess the status of the remaining instances.   
     
     
         16 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein multiple related processes are considered together. 
     
     
         17 - 25 . (canceled) 
     
     
         26 . A computer system for process instance migration from a former process model to a new process model, the computer system comprising:
 one or more computer processors, one or more computer-readable storage media, and program instructions stored on one or more of the computer-readable storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, the program instructions comprising:   program instructions to analyze a former process model and a new process model and their data models and extract a process delta object model relating to changes in the new process model on which to define migration rules;   program instructions to analyze one or more existing process instances and retaining process instances whose current state has passed the changes in the new process model;   program instructions to generate candidate activities of the retained process instances;   program instructions to generate a set of conditions for the candidate activities; and   program instructions to generate a set of actions to be taken if a condition is met.   
     
     
         27 . The system as claimed in  claim 26 , further comprising:
 program instructions to present the generated set of conditions and set of actions to a user enabling the user to combine conditions and actions to produce a process instance migration program in the form of a set of rules.   
     
     
         28 . The system as claimed in  claim 26 , wherein the program instructions to analyze a former process model and a new process model includes a modified parts component for restricting the analysis to modified parts of the new process model. 
     
     
         29 . The system as claimed in any one of  claim 26 , wherein the program instructions to analyze a former process model and a new process model includes:
 program instructions to restrict the analysis to activities of the former process model that can be stopped.